I already have a AM4 motherboard which i am pleased with, but the ATX format is not my cup of tea anymore, and i also wanted a motherboard with better sound and intel NIC
I looked at the mini itx as an option and found two candidates (Asus and Gigabyte)
But i really didn't want to go with the Gigabyte board because of my prior experiences with that brand, so Asus x470 or Asus B450 itx
The differences is mainly on the chipset side, which isn't a great deal
The x470 have a backlit ROG logo on the M.2 heatsink, which the B450 counterpart lack. the B450 have the socket for the led pins, but the heatsink come without connectable pins
So other than the chipset and minor cosmetic differences i went for the B450

The difference between unboxing a ROG board and lets say Asrock, is the difference between a warm shower and suicide thoughts
Everything worked great out of the box, easy installation, and hey stickers!!

I updated the bios to latest ver 1201 which turned out to be a fail for me (even xmp failed), it would not play well with my memory kit at all, so i downgraded to ver 1103
When i tried to boot up 3866mhz the system locked up bad, and it was unable to post, i tried the clr cmos (clr rtc) but nothing happened
I then removed the cooler and pulled the battery, remounted CPU, did clr rtc and inserted only one ram stick = post
I have my own idea of why the board locked up so hard, but its not scientifically proven so i keep that thought to myself
I then downgraded bios one step more to 1003 and that's where i am today

Setting up default ram speed was easy @3466mhz first boot OK, this kit is rated XMP 3000mhz but has no problem running stable in the neighborhood of 3400mhz, and this motherboard made this point perfectly clear
But i ended up using command rate 2 instead of 1 = slightly lower performance, but gain in stability and voltage

I have gamed, done some casual benchmarking, mandatory tinkering and this board perform good and stable without hiccups

There is some tricks here and there tho, to lower idle cpu fans speed for example (write in the thread if your AMD cooler is noisy idle @1000rpm))

Overall i think its nice motherboard, intel NIC, 1220 sound, great working ROG bios, and design

I could go on writing all day in here about this motherboard, but i rather stop here instead to avoid incomprehensive subhuman slur

PS: A proper clr cmos button should be standard on every mainstream/premium ASUS motherboard in 2019 -1 BAMBI

4 BAMBI our of 5


System spec:

Rog Strix B450-I Gaming / bios version 1003
Ryzen 2400G / 4000mhz OC / Wraith Spire
Sapphire Radeon RX 570 / 4 GB / stock clocks OC bios 1340/1750mhz
Crucial Ballistix Tactical 3000mhz / 2X4 GB / 3466mhz OC
EVGA Supernova G2 650W
Kingston 2,5' 120 GB SSD
Seagate 1000 GB HDD
System idle temperatures +/-: CPU 32c, Motherboard 33c, PCH 43c
SMT and CPU spread spectrum enabled during these tests



Benchmarks:

AIDA MEMORY BENCHMARK @3466mhz (CR2)


AIDA MEMORY BENCHMARK @3600mhz (CR2)


CINEBENCH R15


PC MARK 10
https://www.3dmark.com/pcm10/32781277


SUPERPOSITION